Villanova hopes to resume winning ways at Xavier

Field Level Media|published: Mon 13th January, 16:17 2025

NCAA Basketball: Connecticut at Villanova

Jan 8, 2025; Villanova, Pennsylvania, USA; Villanova Wildcats guard Wooga Poplar (5) reacts after the game against the Connecticut Huskies at William B. Finneran Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images

Two teams still trying to find their footing in Big East play meet Tuesday night when Villanova visits Xavier in Cincinnati.

Villanova (11-6, 4-2 Big East) is coming off an 80-68 loss to St. John's on Saturday night in New York. That took some wind out of the Wildcats' sails after defeating then-No. 9 UConn at home last Wednesday and winning three straight games in Big East play.

While Eric Dixon has rightfully garnered most of the headlines for Villanova with his Division I-leading 25.3 points per game, point guard Wooga Poplar has started to take command of the offense as he has settled into his role, averaging 14.5 points and a team-leading 6.6 rebounds per contest.

Poplar is averaging 18.8 points over his last five games, including his 1,000th career point Saturday night.

"Every game is a chance to get better," Dixon said after the loss. "We'll go back and look at the film, see what we could have done better. (We'll) take some lessons from this game, learn, and try to move forward and build on it."

Xavier (10-7, 2-4) recorded its first road win of the season and just its fourth since the start of last season with a 77-63 triumph over DePaul on Saturday in Chicago.

Desperate to rebound from a disheartening effort in an 82-72 home loss to St. John's, head coach Sean Miller took leading scorer Zach Freemantle out of the starting lineup and brought him off the bench in Saturday's win.

Freemantle responded with a double-double, scoring a team-high 20 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. The big man leads Xavier in scoring and is fourth in the Big East at 17.4 points per game.

"It was a big game for us," Miller said of the win at DePaul. "Especially how the last game felt, I thought we were overwhelmed in that game. You can really lose your confidence. There's nobody that's gonna give you confidence. You have to find a way to collectively work together to reestablish it."

Ryan Conwell, who had 19 points at DePaul, is second on the team and eighth in Big East scoring at 16.1 ppg. The junior transfer from Indiana State has at least one 3-pointer in all 17 games, and at least two in 15 games.

--Field Level Media